IRVINE – The JAMS Foundation’s 10th Annual Warren Knight Distinguished Service Award will be presented to Living Room Conversations, along with a $25,000 grant. The award recognizes the work Living Room Conversations has done to address polarization in the country and help people find common ground.
Named in memory of JAMS Founder, the Warren Knight Distinguished Service Award and grant recognizes the work of extraordinary individuals and organizations in advancing collaborative forms of dispute resolution and the peaceful resolution of conflict.
Living Room Conversations (LivingRoomConversations.org) is an open source project launched in 2010, focused on revitalizing civil discourse. They provide a simple structure for engaging in friendly yet meaningful conversation, which helps to increase understanding, reveal common ground and sometimes even discuss possible solutions.
In today’s highly divided society, the JAMS Foundation is very happy to support Living Room Conversation and its efforts to improve civility and encourage more thoughtful conversations among family, friends and neighbors. Organizations like theirs are more important now than ever as we all work together to bridge divides.
-David Brandon, Managing Director of the JAMS Foundation
I want to thank the JAMS Foundation for its support of our work. I often describe Living Room Conversations as a domestic peace initiative, designed to build relationships, understanding and to find common ground between people who might otherwise never connect. We can think of no greater validation than an award and grant from JAMS, leaders in the area of dispute resolution.
-Joan Blades, Founding Partner of Living Room Conversations
Hon. H. Warren Knight (Ret.) was the founder of JAMS, which he created in January 1979. Judge Knight was considered a pioneer in the ADR and legal communities and was instrumental in introducing and furthering ADR, including mediation and arbitration, within the legal community in California and throughout the United States.
About the JAMS Foundation (www.jamsfoundation.org)
The non-profit JAMS Foundation is the largest private provider of ADR-related grants in the world. The Foundation was established in 2002 by JAMS, the largest private provider of alternative dispute resolution services worldwide, and is funded by JAMS mediators, arbitrators and employee associates who contribute a percentage of their income. The JAMS Foundation has provided more than $7 million in grant funding since its inception. Founded in 1979, JAMS and its nearly 350 panelists are responsible for resolving thousands of the world’s most important cases.